Green chemistry is defined as the environmentally friendly design of chemical products and processes. It is a philosophy of chemical research and engineering that encourages the development of products and processes that minimize the use and generation of hazardous substances. Relevant examples include reducing toxic waste, using renewable raw materials, enabling ambient-condition reactions to lower energy consumption, using smaller amounts of catalyst, and enabling high-percentage recovery of the catalyst, etc. Green chemistry seeks to reduce and prevent pollution at its source and applies to biochemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, and even carbohydrate chemistry. Most commonly, it focuses on industrial applications such as minimizing hazardous waste and maximizing efficiency.
Recently, the development of water-soluble homogeneous catalysts contributes to economical green chemistry. Since water-soluble catalysts are easy to separate from the organic phase, they avoid the use of organic solvents and are cost effective and environmentally friendly. Normally, a green chemistry method needs the following features: (1) use of non-toxic catalysts and solvents; and (2) use of renewable resources to synthesize chemical compounds.
In recent years, saccharide chemistry has become well established in medical applications such as biological materials and drug syntheses. Saccharide drugs are used for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, AIDS, influenza, bacterial infections, and rheumatoid arthritis. Remarkable research has also been done on saccharide vaccines in recent years. However, most of the saccharide drugs originate from nature such as the polysaccharides and glycosides of plants, animals, and microorganisms.
Xylose is a sugar first isolated from wood, is classified as a monosaccharide of the aldopentose type. It is derived from hemicellulose, one of the main constituents of biomass. It was reported that the acid-catalysed degradation of hemicellulose gives furfiral. In addition, since xylose does not contain calories, it can be used as diet food. Xylose and xylose derivatives may be applied in various fields. Particularly, xylose and its derivatives may be applied in green chemistry industry.
However, it is desirable to develop an economical and efficient method to obtain various xylose derivatives through green chemistry method.